Go, Tigers, Go!

We took a quick trip to Jacksboro for Clint's homecoming. The boys loved going to the football game, but I forgot to bring my camera in! We drove straight from the boys' school to the football field, so it was buried amongst all the luggage, so we just decided to enjoy the game with out pictures. We sneaked onto the field the next morning to sanp a few pics in their new tiger shirts from Gigi.

Here are the boys with Gran Gran. She was the only adult I could get to pose for pictures! :o)

Silly boys....

Look at her go! She is only 80 years young as she would put it!

Sweet boys...

Tractor rides are a favorite thing to do while at GiGi and Gdad's house

Here are the crazy guys with "Gi-ger and G-der"

Bryson also enjoyed baking brownins with Gran Gran. So sweet...

playing "church" with Meggie

Turn up the volume.... I was kinda far away so they wouldnt see me, so it is kinda hard to hear...

Here are Bryson and Megan playing "church" together in my classroom while Julie and I were working... cutie patooties!

1st day of school....

The first day of school went great.... all the boys were so excited about a new year. Cason loved his first day of kindergarten. He told me "that kindergarten was even funner than preschool, and Mrs. Troutman was even nicer than he thought" so cute.... he prayed the night before that he would be "sentences of the month" (citizen of the month). He is a precious little guy!

Coby got to have a watermelon seed spitting contest and at that point, he was sold on 2nd grade... he had a great first day and he already has Mrs. Hejl and Mrs. Vandygriff up on a pedestal... He has done really well so far at staying on task... fingers are crossed and prayers have been said!!

Micah got to move to a new building and he now goes for an extra hour (until 3:30 instead of 2:30). He also gets to play on a new playground for bigger kids. He loves Mrs. Ellis, and he was so excited when his name tag was written in cursive. He cant wait to learn to write in cursive!! (so cute!)

Bryson and I start preschool next week, so he spent the day with me... we worked in my room and ran errands. He asked a few times "when are we going to get the boys?" but for the most part, he enjoyed to quiet "alone" time. And the second day of school, he had asked me to help build a race track for him. We got it built and I started playing cars with him. He put his hand in front of my car and said, "thanks for the help, mom... now, can you leave me alone?" :o) I didnt know whether to laugh or cry!!

Here are a few pics of the first day in 2009, as well as a few from "memory lane"

Look how much they have grown... it is all happening WAY TOO FAST

2009

2008

2007 (love this one)

2006

and a few more from 2006 because they were so little and cute...

Where did the time go?

How on earth is my Cason already 6 years old? How time flies!

Sweet Case-O ~ We love you so much... you bring so much fun to our family... you are very well-rounded... intense in all you do... but always so sweet to watch out for others along your way. You get so exctited about the simpliest things and you kinda try to hide that "over-excited grin." You have such a precious tender heart, and you give hugs and kisses that are out of this world... Thank you for being you... Happy 6th birthday! We love you!!

~mom and dad

Here is his pancake that I made for him on his birthday morning...

Funny story about Cason's cake: After I finished icing/decorating the cake, I left 'Raphael' sitting out in the kitchen while I was doing laundry. Jingles jumped up onto a chair and then onto the kitchen counter and helped himslef... I came around the corner and freaked!! But it made a great story to tell and it tasted great anyways!

Happy Birthday to you... Cha, Cha, Cha!

Cason and Gigi on the big slide

Cason and some of his girlfriends... he has many! :o)

Some of the friends... several had already headed back into the pool!

The birthday boy with momma and daddy

Summer Fun

My 5 boys!!

This is Bryson's new "thing." He has always been a fish swimming around in his life jacket, but he is already learning to swim with out it!!

The Great-Grand Tour

Every year, around the 4th of July, we make a big trip to go visit all 7 of my kids great-grandparents... we feel so incredibly blessed to have so many of them living for my kids to know... And as much as we wish we could see them more often, we have committed to visiting them at least once a year so that the boys will know and remember them. They are our legacy...

We started off in Abilene, halfway to Jal, at the Abilene ZOO. We met up with Uncle Russ and Aunt Angie, and our cousin Jarrell. If you look closely, you can see sute lil boys in these letters:

The montley crew

Russ, Ang, and Jarrell, who was not keen on the idea of a photo op...

Our crew at the zoo.

Then we loaded back up and headed off to New Mexico to see my grandparents...

Railroad tracks are always a great photo op, right?

My (hot) little monkeys!

Me with my Dandy Don and Nana

The boys with my Nana and Dandy

hahaha

It was so hot.... and he looks so big here!

The famous tire swing at the park in Jal....

Feeding the ducks

me with my Pop Pop and KK.
The boys with Pop Pop and KK

Then we headed back to TX to meet up with Clint's family for the 4th of July...

The boys at the parade with all their loot!

Crazy Gran Gran!!

We headed to Merkel for church with Mamaw and Papaw to celebrate their 80th birthdays...

It is always an adventurour trip, but always lots of fun... everything went great and it was so good to see lots of family.... but it is always good to be back home, too!

just for fun

I recorded this when I was taking Bry's picture of his own hair cut... he was begging me to tape him singing "the Jesus song" I cracks me up to watch him singing away with that chunk out of his hair.... and I think he had an itch!

Taking matters into his own hands...

Today as I was rocking Bryson and we were singing together, I was stroking my hair thru his long curly locks, which had gotten a bit too long and were beginning to hang down in his face (esp when we would go swimming...) "Bry, you need a haircut, dont you? We need to cut this hair here so it wont be down in your eyes..." His response "yah..." and off he went to go play while I went to go do the dishes....

A few minutes later (I know you all know where this is going....) he comes back around the corner with a hand ful of red curls in one hand and Micah's fiscar scissors in the other... you guessed it, he gave his bangs more than just a trim... I had told myself that I was gonna let him be little for one more summer.... we put off the buzz cut one more year... I loved those baby curls! But he took matters into his own hands and changed that decision real quick! :o)

So he now has a summer time hair do.... still a cutie, but just a cutie w/o curls... I do love that his eyes look super blue!

And look how much he favors his big brother now!

Here is Coby at about 3 or 4 years old....

Happy Birthday, G-Dad!

Citizen of the YEAR!

Attention blog readers:

Proud momma moment ahead... lots of bragging to follow! Consider yourself warned...

My sweet Micah was awarded Citizen of the YEAR for his class this morning in the closing assembly. He was so sweet.... proud and excited, grinning from ear to ear on the stage... yet humble about it with all his friends. It is one of the highest honors for an elementary student at Brentwood Christian, and we are so proud of him! He has got such a great balance of sweetness, BOY-ness, giggles, & brains! He has grown (physically & emotionally) so much this year, and we are so blessed to have had Mrs. Patterson as his teacher. She has this enthusiasm for school and a passion for reading, and it has been completely contagious for Micah. She also has a love for our Savior that has been reflected in her teaching... what a blessing!

Way to go MICAH! We love you!